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Apple releases second major update to Mac OS X Leopard

By BetaNews Staff, BetaNews

February 11, 2008, 4:45 PM

Apple has released Mac OS X version 10.5.2, the second major update to Leopard, which brings with it 80 specific fixes and improvements. Most notably, wireless connectivity is now more reliable and stability has been improved when running third-party applications.

Apple has also added an option to turn off the much-maligned translucent menu bar that was introduced in Leopard, along with adding a Time Machine menu bar option. 18 issues have been addresses in Mail, while another 8 were fixed in Finder. Mac OS X 10.5.2 is available now via Software Update.

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By Daddy_Spank

posted Feb 12, 2008 - 2:38 PM

good for apple. they desperately need updates.

Score: 0

By bousozoku

posted Feb 12, 2008 - 2:13 PM

This one is a mistake for me. They may have fixed a number of bugs but processes are running twice as slow now. What took 36 minutes before the update now takes 69 minutes, which puts it about where the poor performance of Leopard started for me.

I guess what they fixed in the earlier security update that improved performance also opened a hole.

Instead of worrying about translucent menu bars, they should be adding more functionality to the open/save navigation dialog boxes.

Score: 0

By frankwick

posted Feb 11, 2008 - 5:47 PM

what's the frequency for OSX updates? Is it once a month like MS? Once a quarter like Oracle? Or is it random and you wake up one day and an update is available?

Score: 0

By lvthunder

posted Feb 11, 2008 - 5:49 PM

I think it depends on the bug. They try to do OS upgrades every couple months or so, but things like iTunes and Quicktime seem to be more random.

Score: 0

By lvthunder

posted Feb 11, 2008 - 5:15 PM

...and stability has been improved when running third-party applications.

Uh correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that the main purpose of an OS. Shouldn't that have been job number 1.

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Feb 11, 2008 - 5:28 PM

Never any room for improvement in anything you do, eh?

There's always room for improvement. New techniques, new input, etc...

Score: 0

By orizng

posted Feb 11, 2008 - 11:23 PM

its not a issue of improvement, its mostly bug fix. new There is no new techniques in this 10.5.2

Score: 0

By lvthunder

posted Feb 11, 2008 - 5:47 PM

It's not that. It's just the way it's worded sounds odd to me. When are you not running some sort of third party program? Why didn't they just say we made OSX even more stable.

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Feb 11, 2008 - 6:17 PM

Because Mac OSX ships with a lot of Apple applications as well, which are likely already quite stable.

They have little control over third party apps until after they've been released. This will mean that on occasion they will have to tweak something their apps do not make use of (and thus didn't show signs of instability), "after the fact".

You are right though, the wording could probably have been better.

Score: 0

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